


Operation Dimple

by soobiscuits



Series: Operations! [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 03:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6356671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soobiscuits/pseuds/soobiscuits
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the story of how an adorable dimple ruined Lu Han's beautiful plans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Operation Dimple

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, happy birthday (sassy) Minseok? 
> 
> Crosspost #3 and I've given up on linking.

Lu Han has always been clear about what he wants. 

 

He knows that he wants to get a stable job. Wants to fall in love, date, propose, get married. He wants to have three boys; not girls because they're whiny and Lu Han doesn't want bitches (pardon the language) for teenage children; and the middle boy shall be the most handsome one because middle children tend to be neglected but no, his handsome boy will be the centre of attention whenever the family goes out and everyone will openly gape at how gorgeous the Lu family (or just Lu Han and his Adonis-looking middle child) is. 

 

So yes, Lu Han is very fucking clear about what he wants.

 

Unfortunately, all his beautiful planning goes to ruins the moment he sees Yixing. 

 

"Hello," Yixing greets, a dirty towel in his hands and the server shoots the customer a dazzling dimpled smile. Lu Han goes blind. "Table for..."

 

"One," Lu Han hastily replies, his fingers twitching and itching to fly upwards to his eyes and hold them open because fuck, this server is still smiling with that fucking dimple and Lu Han suddenly wants to prod it out of sheer fun (and fascination). Thankfully, the dimple disappears when Yixing nods and he stops smiling. 

 

Lu Han frowns at that, but doesn't say anything (not that he could anyway; who the hell asks a stranger if he could continue to show off that adorable facial feature). He follows Yixing, and together they wind through the numerous tables where Yixing finally gestures to an empty two-seater table. 

 

"May I have hot green tea, thanks." Lu Han quickly says, not bothering to hear what his server has to say because Lu Han practically survives on Japanese restaurants and their (powdered) green tea throughout college. The fact that his family are extremely well to do and always punctual in wiring his monthly expenses to his bank account helps his quickly-depleting wallet very much. (Why must Japanese cuisine cost a bomb, _ whyyyyyy _ ?) So it doesn't come as a surprise to Lu Han that the first job he wants to undertake after graduating from his business major in college is a position at a Japanese restaurant. 

 

"Sure," Yixing chirps, and Lu Han resists groaning out loud when the dimple pops out once more. He's had enough of that– that atrocity! How dare this young man test his patience and wavering determination to not throw himself at him and just– Wait a goddamn moment. Lu Han is straight. He's as straight as his best friend, Jongdae, who's gone and hooked up with some dude whose name starts with a ‘b’ and oh, wait: Jongdae's gay. 

 

_ Ah, fuck. _ Lu Han ain't as straight as he thought he is. So yes, now you understand why his thoughtful planning, especially the part of having kids  _ the right way _ , just crumbles when a certain dimpled server comes along. Lu Han's future is screwed.

  
  


\---

  
  


Yixing collapses onto the couch and lets his body melt into the leather of the furniture. He makes the mistake of inhaling and earns himself a noseful of the leathery scent he's never grown to appreciate despite making half the decision to purchase the couch when the previous one had literally exploded into feathers and cotton when a stupid Huang Zitao thought that he was still five and couches are bouncy castles.

 

Though right now, Yixing still doesn't know why in world he had agreed to his flat mate, Minseok’s, request when the elder pointed to (in his words)  _ the most gorgeous piece of leather on Earth _ at the furniture store. He dare not tell Minseok that he would very much rather have the larger, softer-looking couch next to it, and it's so much cheaper as well– 

 

"Please?" Minseok brandishes his baby face, never mind that the young man is almost reaching twenty-three, and pouts. He knows that he will get his way whenever he does this because Yixing is so fucking softhearted. "May we please get this baby? I promise I'll clean him and you won't have to do a thing." 

 

Him? This expensive-half-my-monthly-salary piece of leather is a  _ him _ ? Holy shit. Minseok's so gone, he's fallen far too deep into the clutches of this devious furniture but, "Alright," Yixing just resignedly sighs and nods his head. As they always say, if you can't beat them, join them. Yixing is willing to give  ~~ this expensive piece of shit ~~ the most gorgeous piece of leather on Earth a shot. 

 

But of course, leather is and never will be Yixing's thing and the moment after he inhaled, he shoots up and erupts into a coughing fit. And Minseok has the nerve to cackle. "I don't understand why you behave as though you're allergic to leather." 

 

"I think I'm allergic to anything that's half my monthly salary." 

 

Minseok just scowls at the younger's feeble attempt at humour and sarcasm, and traipses to his room before crossing the narrow corridor to their only bathroom. The door locks and Yixing punches himself in the face for letting his flat mate take the first wash. Minseok showers as though he’s never going to shower ever again, ie.  _ a fucking long time _ . On some nights, Yixing thinks that he’ll probably be ninety and on his deathbed by the time Minseok comes out of the bathroom. At that thought, he flips a finger in the direction of the bathroom. 

 

It's not that Yixing doesn't respect his elders (even if Minseok's only older by a year). He's been a very polite and respectful boy while he was growing up and all the adults that he meets always praises him for that. His grandparents and parents have always been very vocal about their expectations of his behaviour when they're outside but that doesn't mean that his behaviour differs when the Zhang family remains at home. Yixing's respectful and polite at all times, and still is.

 

But his disposition doesn't stop him from unleashing a string of silent curses and swearing that is directed at no one in particular. His exhaustion and foul mood stem from two things that have happened today. One being the fact that he regrets buying one-half of the bloody leather couch (which he laments everyday without fail); the other is the customer that keeps staring at him as he works. 

 

And Yixing groans at that and collapses onto the couch again and breathes–  _ ugh fuck! _

  
  


\---

  
  


"He's here again." Minseok's whisper travels to the subconscious stage of his mind and Yixing promptly shoots up from his sleepy, sprawled position at the sushi counter. He ignores his flat mate's amused gaze to find the living one-half of his everyday problems smiling (a little) down at him. 

 

"Hello," Yixing's problem greets him, and Yixing sees a hand being thrusted into the space between them. He momentarily marvels at his problem's pretty fingers and thinks about how amazing they'd be around his– "I'm Lu Han, the new assistant manager. This is my first job so please take care of me!" 

 

Lu Han bows and Yixing stares at the top of his head. He sees black at the roots of his hair but when Lu Han straightens himself, the brown that he has dyed his hair in reminds Yixing so much of the caramel sauce that he indulges himself in once in awhile and Yixing wants to thread his fingers through those silky-looking locks and–

 

"Hi, I'm Minseok, the only sushi chef in this establishment, and that's Yixing, our head server. Say hi, Xing." 

 

–and earns himself a painful whack at the back of his head with a glove when Yixing doesn't continue his flat mate's introductions. He opens his mouth to speak but it goes dry when Lu Han giggles,  _ fucking giggles _ , and a halo appears around his head. Yixing goes blind. 

  
  


\---

  
  


"So all those times you came and ate are to scout the restaurant?" Zitao asks, shoving an overflowing spoonful of rice and miso soup into his mouth. Yixing looks at him in disgust but doesn't say anything because even though they may be friends (oh, the horror), he's not the younger's mother and is not obliged to chide him for table manners.

 

Plus, Yixing doesn't want to leave a bad impression on his ~~problem~~ , ~~love-at-first-sight~~ , ~~crush~~ , new assistant manager. A first impression always counts, no matter what people say about future impressions being the most important. That's utter rubbish. 

 

(Or not, seeing how Yixing's first impression of Zitao, as a scary dude what with those multiple ear piercings and dark eye circles and the eyeliner drawn around his eyes and the bucket load of biker jackets he owns, flying out the window the moment he opens his mouth and lets out a shrill, feminine scream when a bug appears in the picture. Yixing never thinks of Zitao as frightening ever again. So yes, future impressions are more important, Yixing has reckoned then.) 

 

Lu Han nods, "Yep. I wanted to take a look at the restaurant I'd be working at for probably the rest of my life because jobs are so hard to come by nowadays!” And Lu Han sticks out his tongue and pretends to gag.

 

The table of four goes silent and are those crows Yixing hears cawing...? 

 

"Don't worry," Zitao pipes up, a shit-eating grin on his face as Lu Han flinches when he realises that his attempt at humour and sarcasm is pathetic. "Yixing’s terrible at jokes too." 

 

Minseok spits into his bowl of soup and several droplets splash onto the table’s surface. Zitao snickers but earns himself a pinch at the cheek by the sushi chef which somehow escalates into an on-the-floor brawl that has to be broken up by the establishment’s current manager. In both Minseok and Zitao’s defense, the brawl is  _ friendly _ . 

 

“It’s anything but friendly,” Yixing snorts, totally forgetting that he’s seated next to Lu Han until he feels a gaze on him. He spies a pair of round orbs that could give Kyungsoo, their head chef, a run for his money and gulps nervously. He is unable to withstand the sudden, wide-eye gaze from his newest colleague so Yixing just flees.

  
  


\---

  
  


"Lu Han wants to speak to you." 

 

Sehun, the youngest in his team of servers, sidles up to him and rests his head on Yixing's shoulder. The younger gently drops the towel in his hands into the bucket on the servers’ counter and smiles when Yixing’s hands dip into the water to retrieve the wet towel and proceeds to wring it dry. He hands it to Sehun who nuzzles his neck affectionately, a  _ thank you  _ about to make its way out of Sehun’s lips when someone loudly clears his throat (the restaurant only has male employees, nobody knows why) behind them. 

 

Yixing jumps, startled, and when he turns around with Sehun still glued to his side, the unamused face of their week-old assistant manager greets him. He feels his youngest charge slightly burrowing into his side and briefly notices the fleeting darkness in Lu Han’s orbs. The frown on his face doesn’t subside even as Yixing whispers for Sehun to be on his way because  _ tables don’t clean themselves Sehun-ah _ and Sehun escapes, wet towel clutched tightly to his chest. 

 

“H-Hey,” Yixing starts, a corner of his lips trying to quirk upwards into a crooked smile of some sort in a bid to lighten the rather dark atmosphere that has descended upon them. “Heard that you were asking for me?” 

 

“Yeah, I did.” Lu Han answers, the frown still etched on his  ~~ pretty ~~ face and Yixing inwardly grimaces at that. Such a face shouldn’t show negative emotions, or better yet, such a perfect-beyond-words human shouldn’t  _ feel  _ negative emotions. Whoever caused his  crush assistant manager to be feeling as such ought to be punished! He should be thrown to the depths of sushi hell and be fed buckets of soured sushi rice without break and without water! Large pieces of seaweed will come along and roll him up into a handroll and drown him in boiling hot miso soup and  _ MUAHAHAHAH ZHANG YIXING IS SO EVIL OH MY GOD where has my soft-heartedness gone to– _

 

“But now I don’t have to talk to you anymore.” 

 

And as Yixing snaps out of his daydream, the sight of Lu Han’s retreating back view fills his sight and Yixing doesn’t know why but he tastes soured sushi rice in his mouth. 

  
  


\---

  
  


Lu Han receives a hard whack at the back of his head. But before he can turn around with an angry retort, the furious tone of the voice that travels to his ears stops him. “I thought I’d told you to get on with it! Why is he still behaving like a fucking zombie!” 

 

“But Minseok…” Lu Han whines, the rage ignited by the whack completely vanishing under the sharp glare of the sushi chef. “Sehun’s always by his side, how am I supposed to–”

 

“Sehun is hardly a threat,” Minseok argues as he keeps subconsciously whipping a dangerous-looking vinyl glove against his palm. Lu Han discreetly tries to scoot away from the sushi counter but freezes in utter fear when Minseok slaps the glove onto the sushi counter as he declares, “I don’t care! You better settle this by today or Yixing’s sleeping out on the streets tonight!” 

 

Lu Han pales, but obediently nods. (And he thinks that Minseok might be his worst nightmare in this restaurant. Oh how wrong the assistant manager is because he must have not seen head chef Kyungsoo in  _ his  _ kitchen.)

  
  


\---

  
  


Lu Han sucks. 

 

Lu Han sucks because he has the courage of an elephant when it sees a mouse; he being the elephant and Yixing being the mouse. The words that he has written down on a scrap piece of receipt and has painstakingly rehearsed (memorisation is never his thing) for the past few days are all but forgotten the moment he lays his eyes on Yixing. 

 

Yixing’s sitting by himself at the same two-seater table that Lu Han had sat at when he had visited the establishment for the first time. The pleasant memories of that fateful day surfaces in his mind and Lu Han unconsciously lets slip a soft giggle. Yixing snaps his head towards the sound, round eyes curious but the twinkle in his orbs darkens when he sees Lu Han. 

 

He doesn’t acknowledge Lu Han when the elder sits on the chair opposite his, a neatly-folded apron placed in front of his messily-folded own. Yixing notices the difference and bitterly chuckles.  _ Even our aprons don’t match, so what had made you think that you’d match with Lu Han, huh, Zhang Yixing?  _ Such foolish, wishful thoughts, Yixing thinks, so foolish, so dumb of you, so  _ stupid of you– _

 

“I like you, Yixing.” 

 

_ –so– huh?  _

 

“I really, really like you.”

 

And on the morning of his first monthsary at his dream workplace, Lu Han finally meets the beautiful pair of eyes he’s fallen asleep to countless times. He sees the curiosity that he’s briefly seen just now, the twinkle in them beginning to reignite, and together with the hope that’s flooding those expressive orbs, Lu Han’s chest implodes with the emotion he’s been trying to acknowledge. And Lu Han thinks,  _ knows _ , that he wants to see those eyes for the rest of his life. 

 

“Please go out with me, Xing, please.” 

 

The small flame flickers within his chest, and Lu Han’s chest wants to implode again because the suspense is killing him. The flame has been threatening to extinguish itself ever since he saw Sehun snuggling with  his Yixing. How dare the youngest server behave so inappropriately with the young man he’s laid claim upon on the very first day he’d stepped foot into the restaurant that he will be managing in the future. If Sehun isn’t careful, he’s going to lose his job. (Yes, Lu Han is petty like that.) 

 

Yet, the incredulity on Yixing’s face allows Lu Han to hope, the small flame growing bigger as Lu Han takes in the gradually-brightening expression of the server he’s fallen in love at first sight. The flame burns the brightest that it ever will burn the moment Lu Han registers an adorable dimple appearing on the smiling face he will never be tired of waking up to, and the words he will never be tired of hearing.

 

“I’d love to, Lu Han.”

  
  


\---

  
  


Lu Han has always been clear about what he wants. 

 

He knows that he wants to get a stable job.  _ Check. _

 

Wants to fall in love, date, propose, get married.  _ Check. _

 

He wants to have three boys; not girls because they're whiny and Lu Han doesn't want bitches (pardon the language) for teenage children; and the middle boy shall be the most handsome one because middle children tend to be neglected but no, his handsome boy will be the centre of attention whenever the family goes out and everyone will openly gape at how gorgeous the Lu family (or just Lu Han and his Adonis-looking middle child) is. 

 

_ Uh.  _

 

Yet, even as an essential point of his beautiful planning isn’t fulfilled at the moment (or it might never come true; _who knows_ ), Lu Han is contented. He’s been promoted to the establishment’s manager after the previous manager has retired, and he couldn’t be happier when the entire crew rejoices for him and throws him a surprise party. Lu Han truly enjoys working at his dream workplace, but above that, he’s just glad that his colleagues are such wonderful people (yes, even Sehun). 

 

Lu Han is contented. Even though he hasn’t popped the question to his boyfriend yet, Lu Han’s certain that Yixing’s answer will be a resounding  _ yes _ . He’s been slowly getting them there; the initial months of awkward dating that fortunately pave the way to later months of easy, pleasant courtship that lead to an unopposed decision to cohabitation (Minseok had objected, actually, but Lu Han shuts him up with unlimited free coffees at his family’s cafes;  _ thank god my family owns coffee shops! _ ). And now, they’re the restaurant’s power couple — manager and sushi chef. Who knew that Yixing had been secretly attending lessons and getting certifications (and seeking help from Minseok) to apply for that second sushi chef position? 

 

( _ Thank goodness _ , Lu Han breathes in relief,  _ I rejected that shifty-looking Park Chanyeol when he applied and cleverly shoved him into Kyungsoo’s kitchen instead. _ ) 

 

Lu Han is contented. Sure, he’s definitely not as straight as he had reckoned himself to be but Lu Han doesn’t think that he’s losing out in whatever other young men his age are getting with women because  _ Zhang Yixing, ladies and gentlemen.  _ So yes, Lu Han’s as gay as his best friend, Jongdae, who's gone and hooked up with some dude whose name starts with a ‘b’–  _ who the fuck cares.  _

 

Lu Han is clear about what he wants. He is very clear. 

 

And he is very fucking clear that he wants to spend the rest of his life with plan-ruiner Zhang Yixing _and yeah operation dimple is a success!_

 

(Lu Han also owes Minseok free pastries in his family’s cafes for giving him the idea of Operation Dimple which unfortunately, never began at all. L O L.) 

  
  
  



End file.
